Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14 eBook

It must not be supposed that it was by his literary
work alone, founded though it was manifestly on his
profound study, that Virchow impressed his personality
upon medicine; it was in his lectures and in his laboratory
teaching, too, that he made himself felt. In all
civilized countries there are many devoted workers
in medical science who caught their first real inspiration
from Virchow.

The writer once saw Virchow—­only once,
but it was a sight never to be forgotten. It
was at a banquet given as one of the festivities incident
to the annual meeting of the British Medical Association
in London in 1873. The company was not a large
one, but it included such celebrities as Professor
J. Burdon Sanderson, Sir William Jenner, Professor
Chauveau, and Professor Marey. Virchow was conspicuously
the man toward whom the eyes of all others were oftenest
directed. Virchow met with the love as well as
the admiration of his contemporaries, and both sentiments
will descend to their successors, for his impress on
the records of medicine is indelible, both as an instructor
and as a friend of all real truth-seekers.

AUTHORITIES.

There is no full and connected account of the progress
of medicine during the Nineteenth Century, but the
reader may consult with profit the various medical
biographies, also the following works: Silliman’s
“A Century of Medicine and Chemistry;”
Jenner’s “The Practical Medicine of To-day;”
Buck’s “Reference Handbook of the Medical
Sciences;” Eulenburg’s “Real-Encyclopaedie
der gesammten Heilkunde;” the “Annus Medicus,”
published in the Lancet at the close of each
year; and Tinker’s “America’s Contributions
to Surgery” (Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital,
Aug.-Sept., 1902).